Gary
Banks
New Release Live at the Courthouse
Gary Banks - Live at The Courthouse
Live at The Courthouse is the latest recording released this year - 2019.
This is a live recording of a concert performed at the Bright Courthouse in the Victorian Alps during 2018.
Recorded in Rudi’s hometown of Bright, Victoria, Australia the concert is a celebration of Gary and Rudi’s partnership over the last 10 years. The recording highlights Rudi as the maestro, roots, blues, rock guitarist and Gary as the traditional acoustic singer songwriter.
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This live recording highlights the warmth and humour of seeing Gary perform live, where he tells the stories behind his songs.
The recording includes new songs such as Shadowland, C'mon Jo and Wild Mountain Thyme - an encore where Gary is joined by The Janes.
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The idea of the recording was to produce a CD that truly reflects what it is like to be at the concert on the night. The concert highlights the warmth and humour of seeing Gary and Rudi perform live and hear the stories behind the songs that Gary has written.
Gary and Rudi are joined by their regular musicians Chris Mangan (Bass), Jo Ellis (Violin and vocals) and Rolie (Brian) Dwyer on drums.
This live CD includes new songs such as Shadowland, C’Mon Jo and a spontaneous encore of Wild Mountain Thyme with the vocal group The Janes.
The concert also includes favourites such as Not In My Name, Rising Water, Great Ocean Road, Go, The Long Hunger, Adjusting To The Light (highlighting Rudi’s exceptional guitar playing) and Touch.
The Lighthouse Boy, at song written for Gary’s father who grew up on lighthouses along the Australian coastline, is always a crowd favourite. This song has opened many doors with the world-wide lighthouse family and has led to invitations to play at some of the great lighthouses of the world including Clare Island Lighthouse, Ireland.
Second Album Rising Water
'Rising Water' is the second solo CD that Gary has recorded with producer and guitarist Rudi Katterl at Rudi's Mountain Music Studio in the Victorian Alps.
Gary writes in the acknowledgements on the CD....
" These songs are stories of change, love, loss and (of course) the ocean. A call to rise up in protest ('Rising Water') in honour of the late Pete Seeger. Songs about my beloved Ireland where my spirit flies ('Travel West', 'Spancil Hill' and 'So Far Away From Home') but where the brutal deaths of young boys in an industrial school ('The Boys of Letterfrack') remains inconceivable to me."
'Rising Water' contains 11 new songs that Gary has written since performing with Rudi at various festivals since 2010. The songs were written with Rudi very much in mind, and combine not only Gary as the acoustic singer sonwriter but also Rudi as the driving blues and roots electric guitarist.
Once again Gary and Rudi have re-united with some of the finest session musicians. Jo Ellis - violin and vocals, Tim Philips - drums/percussion and Chris Mangan - bass.
This CD marks a real progression in the collaboration between Gary and Rudi and reveals why they are such popular live performers with audiences. Gary as the soulful singer songwriter and Rudi as the maestro gutarist who is just ascomfortable playing a driving electric lead solo ('Adjusting To The Light', Travel West') as he is playing some very sensitive acoustic touches and embellishments ('Go', 'The Long Hunger', 'Touch' and 'Spancil Hill').
The title song 'Rising Water' is written in the finest protest song tradition and used by the Victorian Greens Party at their campaign launches during the most recent Victorian state election.The only traditional Irish song on the CD is 'Spancil Hill' and it is given a very modern tre atment of drums, violin, bass and guitars. This is a superbly produced CD with new sounds being discovered all the time on multiple plays.
Tracks
Rising Water - Written as a modern day protest song, a call to arms in honour of the late Pete Seeger.
The Sun is on the Rise - Written in praise of the mothers who leave bad realtionships to raise thier children solo. "......till the moon shines on still water....."
Adjusting to the Light - When she doesn't love you there is nothing you can do to make it right.
The Long Hunger - For those who love from afar, unseen, unheard and unable.
The Boys of Letterfrack - A song about the brutal deaths of young boys in the Letterfrack Industrial School Ireland.
Spancil Hill - The traditional song that speaks to everyone about their 'one and only love'.
Touch - Originally written about a soldier at Gallipoli longing for home.
Don't Leave it Undone - The advice of a parent to a child. Advice I wish I'd been given....not that I would have listened either....
Go - Letting someone we love go is the one thing we all have to do at some time whether we like it or not.
Travel West - " When the soul is hungry....west is best." A song for my beloved west coast of Ireland.
So Far Away From Home - A song about being away from home too long with some words from Dorothea MacKellar.
Previous Cd the keeper
This moving and engaging new CD, ‘the keeper’, from Gary Banks is a collection of his original and most requested songs over the past few years. ‘the keeper’ brings together a love of the Celtic Irish acoustic music tradition with a real Australian flavour. The lyrics and mature composition in the CD reflect Gary’s deep commitment to both. His close connections with Ireland have developed over 20 years of visiting the country to perform, share and learn. ‘the keeper’ arose from a most recent trip to Ireland and the opportunity to spend time on the Errislannan Peninsula on the far west coast near Clifden. The CD reflects a love of the ocean and a love of Ireland - its stories of people and places.
Produced by maestro guitarist Rudi Katterl at his Mountain Music Studio in the Victorian Alps the CD also features not only Rudi’s own exceptional musicianship but also some of the finest session players in the north east.
Rudi says…..”after hearing Gary perform solo I knew I had to record and produce his next CD. His words, music and voice needed to be front and centre so that the CD reflected the power of his live performances. I think this CD honours the simplicity and power of Gary as a singer songwriter”
Songs from the Coveted Album
Errislannan is a song written about, and from a peninsula in Connemara where immigration and belonging inhabit the very air of the place; the very stones. In Lighthouse Boy the story is of a son (Gary’s own father as a boy) who was raised on lighthouses as his father was a keeper. It celebrates the way the experiences of parents resonate within the lives of those who follow. Break my Heart, Mary, Chance in Time, and Round and Round continue the tradition of all singer songwriters, the telling of real stories of loss and longing, of people and place, of lost opportunity and that endless ribbon that unites all of us – the soul. Great Ocean Road is a tribute to where Gary now lives in Torquay Victoria and highlights Gary and Rudi’s skills as guitarists steeped in the acoustic folk tradition, the seamless unity of word, melody and music. The Lakes of Pontchartrain is a wonderful version of a traditional favourite. ​Things that Divide Men is a modern interpretation of the futility of war. Initially written about the 'troubles' in Ireland the song applies just as readily to any conflict that has been, is presently or will be in the future. No Surprise written for the friend who must decide how and when to leave her partner.
Gary has delivered a CD that can only be written by someone who has lived, who has experienced life, who has listened to the stories that surround us. Gary’s other life as a child and family therapist informs the stories within his songs.
